FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Looking at the pitchers today there are some possibly concerning signs that I don't know how to interpret. I have some pitchers that have withered as they started growing, obviously bad. Some doing weird things like loops. And some with dead tips on trimmed leaves. Thoughts, ideas, helps, or am I just being sarranoid (if I ever generate a cultivar this will be the name).

Also some aborted flowers on some plants. Especially my S. readii green.

Toward the end of last summer my Dana's Delight started putting up curled pitchers with some forming corkscrew shapes. It was frustrating since that's the best part of the growing season for that Sarr. I looked for mites, mold, you name it, but found no cause for it. After dormancy started I was trimming off some dead leaves and found this crawling around at the base of the rhizome. I used Safer brand Caterpillar Killer to get rid of them. I also spotted a very shiny patch of webbing on the rhizome, which tipped me off to dig around in the media. I think my pest was a Sphinx moth larva, we have several types of them here in AZ, and the larvae will overwinter in flowerpots. The Dana's is putting up straight pitchers this year so I know what to do if they come back. I also had flowers on the Dana's that nodded but failed to open.

I absolutely saw some caterpillars in the backyard near my plants with one that chewed through a flower stalk on my readii. Do you know why the damage results in malformed pitchers much later?

No idea, but I'd think any pest that feeds on the rhizome is going to upset things. A similar - possibly the same - caterpillar decimated my wife's petunias, to the point where even Captain Jack's couldn't control them. I uprooted and tossed the petunias. The only things that enjoyed the infestation were a couple of praying mantis that showed up for a feast. Caution-don't try to feed these things to your VFTs, they'll chew a hole in the trap and escape. Hopefully you won't have any issues with these critters.

Edit: the worms I was dealing with on the petunias were budworms. They chew into newly formed flower capsules. Check that rotten-looking Sarr flower to see if there's a hole in the side. These particular critters are very good at hiding in foliage, they like the underside of leaves and flower petals.